Husband and wife killed in two-car collision

A COUPLE died and four other people, including two children, were injured in a two-car collision on the main Cork to Killarney road outside Macroom yesterday evening.

A woman driver and her husband, both believed to be in their late 60s and from the Midleton area, were fatally injured when their car was in collision with another car near Lissarda at about 6pm.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. The man was alive after the impact but died later from his injuries before he could be taken to hospital.

Two women in their 30s and a boy and girl were travelling in the other car and were taken to Cork University Hospital, but their injuries were not life-threatening.

It is understood that the elderly couple were driving east towards Cork city when their Toyota Corolla was in collision with a Renault Laguna carrying the women and children going west.

Units of the Cork County Fire Service from Macroom and Ballincollig attended at the scene and firefighters had to use cutting equipment to remove the bodies of the deceased from their car.

The remains of both deceased were later removed to Cork University Hospital where postmortems will be carried out today.

Gardaí closed off the road and put diversions in place via Crookstown village and Kilmurry to allow a forensic crash investigator to examine the scene. Anyone who may have witnessed the collision is asked to contact Macroom Garda station on 026- 41724.

Meanwhile, provisional Garda figures released yesterday show 69 people were killed on the roads in the first five months of this year, compared with 73 last year.

This year’s data shows that 39 vehicle drivers died, four passengers, six motorcyclists, five pedal cyclists, 11 pedestrians and four motorcyclist pillion passengers and others. There were 67 fatal collisions this year, compared to 66 in the same period last year. A total of 186 people were killed on the roads last year.